![]() More than a month has passed since the release of Childish Gambino's visual gut punch "This Is America," and I'm still unpacking the shock it elicited the moment it hit the web. With pop culture references spanning centuries and drawing from music, politics, fashion and beauty standards, the pair trade verses and ad-libs about how the nuances of black culture - and themselves, by default - have come to be the nucleus of these worlds without proper recognition. ![]() Bey pays homage to Sarah Baartman, Prince and Shawty Lo and breaks with the beat for a moment to proclaim, "I will never let you shoot the nose off my pharaoh." Jay likens himself to Malcolm X and puffs his chest over his fraternal familiarity in any black mecca ("I'm good on any MLK Boulevard"). From there, HOV and Bey ascend over a bass-injected Flower Travellin' Band sample to deliver a sermon on black strife and prosperity. L'Antoinette Stines - the kind of warm wisdom received on a rainy afternoon from across a kitchen table. The spellbinder opens with a modest explanation of the most multi-faceted emotion known to many by Dr. The eighth song on Jay-Z and Beyonce's surprise collab album, Everything Is Love, "Black Effect" marries blackness and culture capital in a matrimony full of alchemy-level whimsy. If a piece of music can make you feel as though you've been invited to share in the beauty of community and lose your troubles for a while, the gospel truth is in the final line of the song, as Vernon sings the promise: "I'll be singing for your health, I'll be righteous, you'll see." - Carmel Holt, WFUV The gorgeous and moving "Hymnostic" (perhaps an amalgam of "hymn" and "agnostic") brings the communal essence of these projects to life, with lyrics co-written by the contemporary artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and featuring Dessner on piano, Vernon's unmistakable falsetto, Brad Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger) on omnichord and a choir of friends, including The Staves, Kate Stables (This Is The Kit), Lisa Hannigan and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire). In the case of "Hymnostic" by Big Red Machine, this type of comfort can be found not in a house of worship, but online, in a similarly welcoming and communal atmosphere, where a collective of artists are sharing their music directly with fans, for free.īoth the band and the new digital platform, PEOPLE, are parts of a collaboration between Aaron Dessner ( The National) and Justin Vernon ( Bon Iver). Even non-believers can be moved to tears by a choir, or a single voice, singing about a higher power, our earthly struggles and redemption. There is something about a gospel hymn, regardless of your religious stripes, that immediately invokes a spirit of love and good will. ![]()
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